


a match for the history books

by narootos



Series: point by point [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Tennis, Eventual Romance, M/M, everyone is a professional tennis player or a member of their team, konoha kenma komi and iwa are physios, kuroaka are exes bokuto is in love from the start and sakuatsu are gayer than everyone, oikawa cant win the french open, or retired married commentators see: daisuga, will add to tags as i go the universe is Simply Expansive
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24266698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narootos/pseuds/narootos
Summary: tennis' brightest star helped akaashi get where he is, and he is determined to return the favor.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Series: point by point [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1751929
Comments: 5
Kudos: 47





	a match for the history books

**Author's Note:**

> hello again! back again with more tennis au! except this time I don't get to end it all wistfully because it's the multichap portion of this series, rip afnjdsds. i'm super thankful for the feedback I've gotten on the other fics in the series and appreciate the enthusiasm about this au and all its unrealistic proportions, lol. as always I hope you have fun reading, enjoy, and stick around! <3

Tennis is just what Akaashi is meant to do. He picks up a racquet at three and never looks back. He’s talented in general and works hard to boot, eventually developing a game all of his coaches growing up describe as both technical and beautiful. Perhaps his family had other kinds of hopes for him, but “professional tennis player” looks nicer and nicer as his potential for success grows stronger and stronger. 

Akaashi is a talented junior, once making the semifinals in Boys Singles at the US Open and once at Wimbledon. They aren’t trophy wins, but they’re evidence of his competitive tenacity, regardless of how apathetic he can appear. Regardless, the juniors tour doesn’t serve Akaashi as well as it may have some of the other Japanese tennis stars his age. See one Kuroo Tetsurou, who wins two 250 level ATP tournaments in his senior debut year. He watches Kuroo continue to develop as a player and it gives him a level he should strive to attain, but not as much the inspiration to reach for more.

That comes from Bokuto Koutarou. 

It’s his thing on the side to follow Bokuto’s career, and maybe it’s kind of weird for him to be such a fan of a peer. It’s not like he’s unique, anyway. Bokuto is Japan’s brightest star in every respect, even when he’s young, sweaty and pimply, and spends entire interviews contributing nothing but the fact that he’s going to do his best. Akaashi feels dim compared to him, but so do the majority of Japanese players, besides maybe Kuroo, who knows him personally and has played him at ATP level. 

Besides being a brilliant personality, Bokuto is so good he spends the equivalent of thirty seconds in juniors, and he’s gone professional by fifteen. He wins several futures and challenger titles in his mid-to-late teens and has two Masters 1000 titles and a major before turning nineteen. _This might turn out to be the best Japanese Singles player ever_ , Akaashi hears the former doubles legend Sugawara say on the television. _He might just be the best teenager ever in tennis._

Besides all the amazing things that Bokuto already is, he is also the reason Akaashi gets up in the middle of the night and hits against the wall, perfects his serve, sticks it out in the third set tiebreaker of challenger matches on other continents at 11:46 at night. Watching Bokuto play tennis is what makes Akaashi learn to take as many steps as it takes to arrive at his destination and then to take another one. 

When Akaashi plays Bokuto for the first time it’s like entering a new realm of tennis. His forehand is in its own league. The topspin he manages to create is impossible for Akaashi’s single-handed backhand. And Akaashi can’t break down the insatiable defense Bokuto manages; he successfully counterpunches nearly every time Akaashi goes for a winner. The only area Akaashi has a one-up is his serve, and it isn’t nearly enough. When Akaashi plays Bokuto for the first time he gets taught a thorough lesson from his hero, and finally gets a taste of what truly winning tennis looks like from the best seat in the house. 

His career skyrockets. And he thinks of Bokuto whenever he wins a trophy. He thinks of Bokuto when he beats Bokuto to win a trophy. A small part of his mind thinks of Bokuto when he and Kuroo win doubles trophies together.

Akaashi owes him everything.

___________________________________________________________________________________

About eight years on from winning his first major, Akaashi is what the tennis world considers a star. He has won three of the four major titles, two of them several times, numerous masters titles, and a handful of smaller level tournaments. He spends most of the past eight years in the top five of the singles ranking, and a meaningful amount of time at number one. Going on twenty-nine, he is older for a professional tennis player, but over the years he beats the best, has good and bad days, and learns to appreciate his achievements. He has seen the world several times over, made friends, found love (and lost it), and become somewhat of a celebrity athlete (which has never been his style, but it’s part of the package). Akaashi becomes his inspirations and thensome. 

Because of his successes, he is deemed a member of the select arrangement of players tennis fandom refers to as, in some cases affectionately and in some cases disdainfully, “The Big Four”. Bokuto, Kuroo, the ever-popular Oikawa Tooru, and himself. The four of them split the majors for the past few years, leaving no breathing room for the rest of the tour and rewriting history along with the changing calendar. The four who could each be the best of all time- if it weren’t for the other members.

The Big Four play each other all the time, in finals and semifinals in accordance with their rankings, but they never practice with each other. It’s an unspoken rule, because they’re the ones regularly competing for the big titles, really. The detriments of unintentionally revealing their strategies outweigh the benefits of practicing with another player of their own calibers. Akaashi used to practice with Kuroo when they were a doubles pairing, but then they were on the same side of the net, and they haven’t done it since breaking up (and Kuroo has his number on a singles court, anyway). 

So, all things considered, it comes as a shock when Bokuto approaches Akaashi for a practice session at Indian Wells in late February.

“His management contacted me to set it up. I know you’re used to your usual partners, so I told him I’d address it with you and get back to them.” Shimizu tells him with a straight face, while Akaashi raises an eyebrow at her incredulously.

“I understand that Bokuto-san isn’t in the best form right now,” he says, taking the cap off his water bottle and taking a sip before continuing, “but us practicing together seems pretty outside the order of things, no?”

“I think you should give it a shot,” Konoha pipes in from the chair beside Akaashi, adjusting the umbrella to keep the sun out of his face. 

“I’m going to pretend you’re not saying that because you’re gay for his physiotherapist.” Akaashi quips, and Shimizu puts on one of her little amused smiles.

“Actually,” Konoha says pointedly, his face red from what he’d swear was the heat if you asked him, “I just never understood what the deal was with not practicing with your competition. You and Bokuto are cool, and anyone else you practice with could still beat you. It’s happened before. If you just do drills with him or whatever, it’ll probably be a good way of gauging where you’re at.”

“Well, it’s certainly an interesting proposal. But considering he lost to me in Melbourne, it might be a little awkward.” Akaashi stands up, bouncing a ball against the court with his racquet in a matter of habit. 

“You haven’t played a tournament _since_ Melbourne,” Shimizu points out, and Konoha turns away to hide his grin. 

While he walks towards the baseline, Akaashi considers it. She’s right, as she usually is; It’s his first practice session at a tournament in a while, and he has been coachless for several months. It’s a weird time; the tour is changing, there are some new winners at important tournaments, what with Bokuto’s lack of form returning from injury and Oikawa’s ongoing knee struggles. He supposes he’s in a weird place, too, watching Kuroo decimate the majors with a vigor he has never seen in light of the reduced Big Four. 

Akaashi throws up a toss to hit a serve, thinks of all the times he’s served the ball to Bokuto, all the times he’s met Bokuto eating joyfully in tournament cafeterias and gave him short high-fives in the hallways between matches. The ball flies off his racquet and into the tape, falling back onto his side of the court. It isn’t nearly enough. He adjusts his visor and looks at the empty other end of the court, the sun setting in line with the fence with the times he used to know. 

“Tell his manager it’s a yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> just felt like it's worth noting that "the big four" (the big 3 for some) is a concept real enough in tennis to have its own wikipedia page, and as unrealistic as i can make four players alone dominating men's tennis feel, it has actually been the reality of men's singles tennis for the past 10-15 years (save the players being from the same country, that part is a stretch i take liberties with lol)!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Four_%28tennis%29
> 
> can't wait to get to encouraging practice court shenanigans feat. akaashi being awkward as hell and bo being a softy in need of encouragement. and thank you for reading as always! <3
> 
> beefkuto on twitter


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